BHS Driller football team needs fund raising effort from community to get State Championship rings

The Drillers did something a school in Kern County hasn't done in generations: win a State Championship in football. If they don't get quite a bit of help from the community, they may never have anything to show to future generations.

KERO

2013 will be a year football fans in Bakersfield never forget. It's the year the Drillers won a state championship.

The Driller fans will have their reminder. 2013 will be added to the scoreboard at Griffith Field in no time. It will serve as a reminder to all those who come to the field of that faithful year. But what about the players who actually earned that state championship throughout the year on Griffith field? Believe it or not, without a little help, they may never get their reminder.

“In football people always say the ring, the ring,” head coach Paul Golla said of the champions’ prize.

“It's something you get to show your kids and show the future generations,” said Jeremiah Reddick on Friday.

A company called Jostens specializes in just that.

“It's the same company that made NFL Super Bowl, the World Series,” Jostens’ local representative John Hatten explained, “NHL Hockey and the NBA Championship. It's a big deal.”

With such a big deal comes a big price tag – about 35 thousand dollars. It will take a lot to fit a ring for all 60 Drillers. But you can help. The Student Activities Building on Bakersfield High campus is taking donations by cash or check or you can call the BHS Driller treasurer at 661-549-3462.

“You can give 100 dollars or you can give 10 dollars because it all goes to the same pot,” Golla said.

“There's no school that I'm aware of that pays for its student's rings,” Hatten explained, “It's a burden.”

The fact is that burden can be too much to bear for some kids and their families. But if all goes as planned and enough money is raised, Bakersfield can send its champions out into the world with more than just memories but with a unique memento of an accomplishment as rare as they come.

This is the first one I've ever done,” Hatten said, “I've been doing this almost 18 years. 60 schools a year. You can do the math, it's not very common.”

“It would be so beautiful to have that to remind us of what we were made of that year,” Reddick added, “ of what we accomplished.”

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